Introduction
Pop culture often touches upon the subject of psychological disorders and explores how the human mind works. One of the remarkable examples is Split, an American horror and thriller movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan in 2016 (IMDb, n.d.). Its protagonist is a man with dissociative identity disorder (DID) named Kevin Wendell Crumb and played by James McAvoy (IMDb, n.d.). Other main characters are Kevin’s psychologist, Dr. Karen Fletcher, played by Betty Buckley, and a teenager Casey Cooke by Anya Taylor-Joy (IMDb, n.d.). The movie won several Best Actor awards from CinEuphoria, Hawaii Film Critics Society, and San Diego Film Critics Society for McAvoy’s role (IMDb, n.d.). Furthermore, Betty Buckley was recognized as the Best Supporting Actress.
As a result of childhood trauma, Kevin develops 23 different personalities that control his body and mind. However, the 24th person forces the man to kidnap three teenage girls and keep them captive for future sacrifice. I am particularly interested in Kevin because his story is partially based on the life of Billy Milligan, who committed crimes and was diagnosed with DID. Besides, exploring Shyamalan’s character would provide insight into the condition and how it is perceived by society.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
The main psychological issue explored in Split is dissociative identity disorder. Kevin switches to different personalities, and each of them is characterized by a distinct behavior, voice, mental state, and physical and intellectual abilities. One example of portraying the issue is a scene where the abducted girls meet Patricia, their kidnapper’s alter ego (Shyamalan, Blum, & Bienstock, 2016, 00:20:53). The personality shift is so striking that Casey and her friends cannot believe it at first. Another example illustrates Kevin’s therapy session with his psychologist, where she guesses which personality is in charge now based on their distinctive features (Shyamalan, Blum, & Bienstock, 2016, 00:37:38). The condition negatively impacts Kevin’s life because he rarely controls his own mind, which prevents him from normal functioning.
Dissociative identity disorder develops in childhood when an individual experiences trauma and cannot process it appropriately because their mentality is still evolving and unfit to handle such stress and pain. As a result, one’s identity splits into at least two distinct personalities. According to Schofield (2021), symptoms include depersonalization, derealization, dissociative amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration. Furthermore, some patients can have somatoform dissociation or conversion disorder, where pain or physical sensations are present (Schofield, 2021).
Psychotherapy is the primary treatment to help individuals work on trauma, handle symptoms, and manage identities more effectively. As per Hull (2021), “dissociative identity disorder has a prevalence of 1.3% in the general population” (para. 11). Furthermore, Hull (2021) reports that “women are disproportionately impacted by dissociative disorders [and] Asian and African Americans report higher rates of dissociative disorders over their Caucasian American counterparts” (para. 6). In other words, this condition is rare in today’s society, and certain populations are at higher risk of developing it.
Conclusion
Overall, the portrayal of psychological disorders in the media is not always accurate, which affects how people with such conditions are perceived in society. The movie Split is precise in terms of showing the shift in one’s behavior for distinct personalities and gaps in recalling daily events. Furthermore, it highlights that childhood trauma is the main cause of Kevin’s disorder. However, I find the overall depiction of DID in the movie harmful because it stigmatizes mental illness, portraying DID patients as violent and dangerous, which is rarely true. Split is worth watching due to McAvoy’s portrayal of multiple personalities. Nevertheless, the condition is used to diversify the plot, which means Kevin does not represent real-world people with a dissociative identity disorder.
References
IMDb. (n.d.). Split.
Hull, M. (2021). Dissociative disorders statistics.
Schofield, L. (2021). Our house: Making sense of dissociative identity disorder. Abingdon-on-Thames, England: Routledge.
Shyamalan, N. M., Blum, J., & Bienstock, M. (Producers), & Shyamalan, N. M. (Director). (2016). Split [Film]. United States: Blinding Edge Pictures, Blumhouse Productions.